Red White and Blue Independence Day Beer

[arnobg]

I was looking at a calendar trying to plan the rest of my brewing season since I am moving long distance in December when I came up with an idea. For Independence Day 4th of July, I thought it may be interesting to brew three different beers in colors of red white and blue sort of like green St. Patrick's Day beer.

I was thinking the white would be the hardest in which case maybe just a pale lager, or not do one for white at all and stick to red and blue. Or maybe could do a pale wheat beer with watermelon.

For the red I was thinking maybe a blonde racked on top of strawberries or cherries which should give it a nice red hue and for the blue, a pale beer like a saison racked on top of blueberries or blackberries, or a mixture of both.

I'm looking for recipe suggestions to base these off of, I have never brewed a fruit beer yet. Would be nice to have a little bit of variety, maybe a blonde, light saison, wheat beer, etc.

 

[jjw5015]

I think the berries might just make everything look purple, as blue/blackberries don't really look blue when mashed up. I had a Blue IPA at Tired Hands last weekend. It was literally blue/gray. No idea where they got the color from, but here's the description:

Prismatic Sea:
Blue IPA. 6.9% Brewed with oats and Butterfly Peaflower. Hopped intensely with Hüll Melon and Simcoe. Find inspiration in unlikely places.
-Notes of herbaceous flowers, bright pineapple, green pepper, mango, and kuih ketan.

Upon further review, the color must've come from the butterfly peaflower

 

[arnobg]

I think the berries might just make everything look purple, as blue/blackberries don't really look blue when mashed up. I had a Blue IPA at Tired Hands last weekend. It was literally blue/gray. No idea where they got the color from, but here's the description:

Prismatic Sea:
Blue IPA. 6.9% Brewed with oats and Butterfly Peaflower. Hopped intensely with Hüll Melon and Simcoe. Find inspiration in unlikely places.
-Notes of herbaceous flowers, bright pineapple, green pepper, mango, and kuih ketan.

Upon further review, the color must've come from the butterfly peaflower

Now that sounds VERY intriguing. How did it taste, did it have strong floral characteristics or was it tropical and fruity?

I see they make extract for that flower too, I wonder if they go that route. I just want to avoid any artificial coloring. Apparently it is used in teas:

http://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/butterfly-pea-flower-color-changing-tea

I will likely play with a couple 1 gallon test batches before brewing any 5 gallon batches.

 

[jjw5015]

Honestly I had 4 or 5 different IPAs there that day, so it all sort of blends together. It wasn't terrible by any means, just didn't stand out among the others such as Hophands. The color was certainly unique. Almost more gray than blue, but something you can experiment with.

 

[arnobg]

Honestly I had 4 or 5 different IPAs there that day, so it all sort of blends together. It wasn't terrible by any means, just didn't stand out among the others such as Hophands. The color was certainly unique. Almost more gray than blue, but something you can experiment with.

Thanks for sharing that! I am doing some research into that flower now. It looks like it is used widely in the health food market for teas and has a lot of health benefits. Interesting that in a google search I can't many instances of it being used in a beer. Apparently the flower itself doesn't have a strong floral aroma, rather an aroma of dried apple chips. Very unique!

 

[jjw5015]

Ya i tried getting a google image of the beer and got nothing. And for some reason i didn't take a pic when i was there :smack:

 

[Homercidal]

I would think a Witbier would make a good selection for White.

Red isn't hard to get.

Blue could be almost any light beer with some blue coloring added.

 

[myerstyson]

I do an IPA a couple times a year with hibiscus in it. I've done it with 2oz and 4oz (both at 15 left in the boil). Both have tasted great, and both were red.

Interestingly, all my American friends who tried it loved it but couldn't identify the "spice." My Indian (subcontinent) friend took one sip and exclaimed, "OMG, hibiscus!"

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Yeah blueberries are actually red. The wine from them looks exactly like red grape wine. I'm not sure how you would get blue, since blue food coloring makes beer green...

 

[jjw5015]

Was able to find an image of the TH Blue ipa. As I said, a bit of a stretch to call it blue

View attachment 1464002254731.jpg

 

[arnobg]

That looks close enough to blue for me!